A Manhattan-Based Startup Is Providing Free Access to Universities So Staff and Students Can Continue Holding Classes Throughout The COVID-19 Pandemic

March 19, 2020

KUDO, a Manhattan-based startup will be providing free access to nearly 20 universities so trainers and students can continue holding classes through the COVID-19 pandemic. KUDO’s multilingual collaboration platform will allow the EMCI member schools to keep training the next generation of conference interpreters despite the containment measures.

The EMCI is a consortium of 16 universities offering high-level training in language interpretation. The Consortium was created by the European Commission two decades ago and has been sponsored by DG SCIC and the DG LINC (European Parliament) ever since. Thanks to this long-term partnership, the EMCI has become a point of reference for high quality conference interpreting globally.

There are approximately 150 students enrolled in EMCI courses across Europe, Turkey and Russia. Since the coronavirus pandemic, about seven or eight universities have banned onsite instruction. This means trainers now must deliver their language interpreting teaching remotely, which includes a few mock multilingual conferences every week.

” It’s important for us to continue our training classes and deliver the courses”, states Ms. Ildikó Horváth, EMCI’s President and the head of the Department of Translation and Interpreting at ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary.” I turned to KUDO over the weekend. In less than two hours, we had a full plan in place”, she adds.

KUDO a language-as-a-service platform that provides web conferencing with live interpretation in any language. Their technology offers the interpreter a feature-rich interface through which they can work. They enjoy high-quality video and audio, document sharing, even language relay. “We’re happy to support these 16 universities in their effort to usher into the market highly trained conference interpreters whose job is so crucial in our globalized world, says Fardad Zabetian, KUDO’s founder and CEO, before adding: “Our team has been working round the clock to ensure business continuity for our clients and partners.”

KUDO claims it can accommodate anything from scheduled business video calls to regional meetings to large online conferences in unlimited languages, for an unlimited number of participants.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the company has extended special offers to non-profits, educational institutions and international associations. In addition to the technology, KUDO makes available a roster of 2,000 trained conference interpreters and a network of partners on four continents. They are positioning themselves to support online meetings safely and professionally, no matter the language or the location of those in attendance.